Thots on ODC II, or Starting fires II

[ntsqd]

First, to the CORDR crew: BRAVO !!!!!!
Outstanding job.
I think it outstanding that the only problem of the whole day that I'm aware of was that 3 full size roll-offs were not enough.

As I recall Paige said 169 people showed up. That is a great turn-out, but we can and need to do better. I've been to two Early Bronco events that out drew this, one in Hesperia drew 265 Early Broncos. Not people, Broncos. This event drew from as far away as the midwest. How many Early Broncos can there still be running around ? And how many off road racers are there ?
So, during this morning's drive back to foggy Ventura I thot about how to encourage more people to show up for this and other civc actions that demostrate the off road community's love and respect for the environment. Even turned the radio off. Had a minor epiphany that I'll toss out for discusion.
What if we could convince every sanctioning body (since they have a stake in this too) to award race points to every team racing in their series that participates in a clean up at or near one of their race courses ? I thinking that the number of points should be roughly equal to a third in class finish. I don't think it should be more points because race teams are set up to try to win races, not clean the desert. I don't think it should be less points or it won't be very motivational. Imagine losing the race season to a team that participated in just one clean up.
The drawing on the ODC II t-shirt might become reality, and wouldn't that be grand ?

"Teach you all I know and you're still stupid"
-- Howdy Lee

 

[pjc]

Lee,

All nice stuff that sways the common man but, the eco-nazis are laughing. All your efforts will not sway them one bit. The one, overwhelming place you can make a difference is at the ballot box.

PJCinLV

 

[Paige]

Lee,

Thanks for getting involved and thinking of ways to help the sport and the cause, every little bit does help and the involvment of everyone is crucial. Pat is right - the ballot box does make the difference when it comes to legislation and we need to be involved in upcoming elections, because in the end, its the lawmakers who we have to pursuade and the cubic dollars of the environmental groups outways us, but what gives some of these people power, is the power of perception and they get donations from membes based on the fear mongoring they do and anything we do to help that perception, helps us all. If we all do a little, then we all are closer to winning the war.



<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>
www.cordr.com</A>

 

[ntsqd]

Pat,
First off, you're playing into their hands calling them "Eco-Nazi's". They are not Nazi's, nor are they anything remotely Eco anymore. What they are about is controlling people and feeding fear. They are, in fact, terrorists. They don't all blow up buildings or spike trees with nails, but they are terrorists all the same. They get their jollys from watching people suffer. The Eco part is camoflauge, it is a shield from which they hide under only to on occassion reach out and whack people mentally or physically.
I'll speculate they got there the same way you got where you appear to be, from despiration over lack of response to something you care about. Only some of them have forgotten why they care and are now in a viscous circle of hate. Getting despirate is the first step down that slippery slope. When you get despirate you start to act and sound radical, something that most people will shy away from (except those like you). Which makes your message even harder to get across, which makes you hate more.

Howdy Lee is the spoken author of my sig file quote. My name is Thom Singer.

Paige, the more I think on this the more we really needed media coverage there. The "Anti's", as I'll call them, have mastered manipulating and getting the mass media to publish their point of view. If the public is only offered one view, then they can't choose for themselves which stance to take. They don't even know that there is an issue to take a stand on. I suspect mearly inviting the local paper out to see what's going on isn't going to cut it. What the answer is, I haven't a clue. Wish I did. The Anti's have had a couple decades to hone their media manipulation skills. We need to get on the fast track now. I think the first step might be to find a skilled PR person within our community. Point them in a direction and give them all the ammo we can. The Anti's now have the cash flow to hire pro's. We have to meet this somehow.

"Teach you all I know and you're still stupid"
-- Howdy Lee

 

[ntsqd]

Ment to add:
Apologies to the bbs and John and Klaus. I should have started this on "Save the Desert".


"Teach you all I know and you're still stupid"
-- Howdy Lee

 

[jimpat]

i agree, let's get Boxer and such out of office and her cronies !!!!!!
and we should get to know the person running for her office and offer our help.
Politicians may not care about us or the desert, but care for our votes, and they will sell their souls for them.
jim

when everything is under control, you are going to slow!!!!!

 

[Paige]

Thom,

Sorry about the Lee thing - We've been working on media coverage and we did get some with radio and local papers, and I'm sure we'll get a bit of followup coverage, we will be doing a big follow up media campaign in trade and local media as well. I totally agree that we need an assault on the media to counter the current fear mongering that has been going on, but we have to locate the media that are willing to publish our side - some media are on the sides of the opposition and that is why they get so much coverage.

CORDR is also thinking of other things we can do beyond the clean up to help the sport - The clean up was our launch pad and now that we see the support and involvement is consistent - we are thinking of what else we can do...lots of great ideas - but only a few people to execute them at this time, I would like to get more people involved in the execution of plans and events - if you or anyone else would like to get involved please send me a PM and we'll go from there.

I call them unbalanced environmentalists myself - a term coined by one of our legislators in Sacramento.

You are right the opposition has had decades to hone their skills and we have to play catch up - it's not that easy and we will make mistakes - but at least we are trying, but you can only learn from our mistakes.

There are many ways to get involved - We have people like Martin who offer a huge amount of assistance at the BLM meetings, and we have Allies in all the OHV groups, we have people who come out and clean and say "what can I do" and we have people who can't make the clean up but make it up in other ways - everyone can make a difference - it's just stepping up and doing so.

Just a remember everyone - all OHV web-sites are monitored as far as we know -

<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>
www.cordr.com</A>

 

[Tom_Willis]

Keep in mind that the first information most people get about off-road is from their teachers. If your kids are told the Sierra Club side of the story, complete with Woodsy Owl and all that propaganda, they can be molded from an early age to believe the B. S. We need to occasionally go to the schools, show the city kids a desert truck or buggy, let them sit in one, and let them decide if we are all evil enemies of the environment. I think most of them, especially the boys, would love to see a race car in person. There is an opportunity after each race, while the car is still dirty and battle-scarred, to leave a lasting impression on kids. Think back when you were 9 or 10 years old...... What would have made a bigger impression on you, a visit from a guy dressed as an owl, singing about the birds & nature, or a guy who brought in an 8 truck with a crushed front bumper, tire marks on the fenders, hood missing, with amazing stories about racing through the night in Mexico.... The bottom line is, they go after the kids, getting liberal teachers (without a clue of how the world works) to shove their agenda down our kids throats, so we need to demand equal time.

 

[rdc]

Tom, great idea. Made me think of another to win the hearts and mind of the public. Do things with orgs. like make a wish , childrens hospitals and such. I bet those kids would love to get to hang with racers. Show how kind hearted we realy are.

Tony

 

[FABRICATOR]

Your all right,
Paige and PJC are right with the vote, but that does not mean your vote, it means the vote of everyone you come in contact with and the public. You can influence those around you.

Thom is right in putting more emphasis and exposure on the clean up efforts. It's small but you never know who may be watching at any given time. That little clean up and things like it could make a big difference. It's kind of odd how the "promoters" don't do much of this.

Kritter and Twillis have very good ideas for exposure in the right places, even small places. This is also a case of not knowing who may be watching or who might be there.

The enviros are doing all of these things large and small, and creating a lot of attention. They are not doing anything spectacular for their cause (except for getting that scum-bag Clinton elected). What are they doing that we can not do. We have a section of the Republicans on our side (or at least reachable) and a section of industry as well (they are also reachable).

Most of us tend sit back and wait for someone to come up with some revolutionary idea so we can help. In the mean time we can work on this individually as well by talking to those around us.
You won't hear many politically unpopular facts from mainstream news organizations. But they do show up on some cable or satellite broadcasts. Local papers also tend to tell more. These juicy and usually scandalous items are perfect "ammunition" toward your favorite liberals. It gets them questioning things. It's amazing that people can be brought to conservative thinking by no more that open mindedness and the truth.


<font color=orange>The best ideas are the ones that look obvious to the casual observer.</font color=orange>

 

[martininsocal]

tigger- some of us have thought about this issue of reaching others besides those we sit next to. it is occuring with other groups among our community and has happened down in san diego. i think the best way to open our sport to the public is through the eyes of children. while it may be somewhat selfserving, perry(the scribbler) and myself have talked about doing a show and ride program with the kids being treated for terminal ailments. i think that working with a hospitle liek one of the macdonald houses or loma linda will not only help our cause, but give kids a chance to do something they would never dream of doing with thier short lives. many of the kids in these programs are isloated and their only link to much of the outside world is through tv. imagine what a young boy who watches racing on tv and catches a bitd race or a corr race would feel like if he got the cjance to sit in a race type vehicle and go for a spin with one of the herbst brothers , leduc, or macachren. what type of high would riding with ivan in his prerunner out at barstow be like? i believe these kids would be happy just riding in any race car we could provide. make a wish? how many of us wish we could someday ride in a real desert or shortcourse race vehicle? now think about the kids who just wonder if they will have a someday. cleaning the desert is good for us and the desert, but the impact on the public that doesn't use the desert is minimal. we clean the place we use. imagine the impact when we offer rides to kids who are being deprived of the simplest thing...life. i know it has come up here a long time ago, but it is still something we would like to attempt. martin

If your gonna go, go BIG

 

[frankh]

I'm in. maybe the next mdr night race we could set something up for ride before the race. give them away on malibu dan show. Before a race would be better ( you know the car is running then)

 

[ntsqd]

I figured it (the Lee thing) was a simple mistake. No harm.

Ok, this discussion is what Tigger and I both were trying to get started. Now we have some ideas, let's keep them coming and let's make them happen.
This is sort of like the war on terrorism. Actually it is a war on terrorism. It will be a long war, one that we may not ever finish. So pace yourselves, don't do a whole bunch of stuff in a few weeks and then flame out. Go at a pace that keeps the truck/buggy/bike/skateboard/whatever together for a 1000 miles. But most of all, remember that everywhere you go, everything you do, you are an ambassador (sp ?) of the sport. Like someone said, you never know who's watching. Now you know they're there, impress them.

FWIW the verbal author of my sig file quote was a Harley mechanic for many years in L.A. He lost the official dealership thru polictical manuverings. Shortly after that the CHP made an exception to their standing 'dealer only' repairs rule. He was a very sharp and talented man who never learned to read or write.

"Teach you all I know and you're still stupid"
-- Howdy Lee

 

[robert_encinas]

Mr. Willis that is the best idea i have heard in a very long time.i bet teachers would eat that up.after all history was yesterday, nobody knows the future that only leaves math and english remember how fun that was?

 

[TROPHYSEDAN]

Tom we took our 11 car (Trophy Sedan ) to a car show after the night race it was still dirty and people went crazy over it. Put some pictures on it with the car catching air .Alot of kids came up to us and i let them sit in it made there day .We used to do that at parris speedway after the races .I think you have a good idea .I am in let me know . Thanks Dennis 11 Brothers racing team

 

[Kritter]

I wanted a ride in the 11 car. I should have asked, but didnt know whose it was.

Kris

When in doubt, GAS IT!

 

[Waldo]

Just a thought on what Willis had to say about educating our young about off-roading. I have been doing something similar for years! At the end of each school year I bring my dirt bike to my class. The theme of my presentation is "safety". A demonstration of the safety gear and equipment is educational for the students but it is not considered curriculum based learning (per my administration). I believe it would totally enrich my students on safety and off-roading fun.

My classroom is decorated with Moto-X posters, TT posters/pics, B1k map (Most of my kids are from Mexico so they are amazed that I have actually been somewhere down there besides TJ), and other stuff related to off-roading hobbies. I even scored about 50 Kawasaki "Ricky Carmicheal" book covers last year at the Adelanto Grand Prix. The boys in my class totally dig it. The girls could care less!

But hey, educators need to make learning as fun as possible for kids to get it. However, the beaurocrats in the local govt's and state govt's have given us standards to teach. If we aren't teaching them, our yearly Stanford-9 scores will drop and we will not meet our (school) educational goal.

To get a TT or other off-road race car on our campus would be very difficult. We would have to write a proposal that addresses the state standards for education. It would be fun and definitely a learning experience for our young people.

BRAAAAAAAAP!